Photo by Compujeramey on Flickr.

According to an article in the Sun Gazette, VDOT is pushing back on Arlington’s and Falls Church’s plans to evolve the East Falls Church Metro station from primarily a park-and-ride to one surrounded by apartments and stores.

VDOT planner Thomas VanPoole told reporter Scott Mcaffrey that Arlington needs to retain all the existing parking spaces at the station. Plus, planning should take into account any additional demand for parking in the future.

The support of VDOT is important, because the state-level agency controls the land closest to the Metro station which was built in the median of I-66.

VDOT cites the early fill time for the parking lot as justification for considering more parking than already exists. The lot regularly fills before 7:30 am, and data obtained from Metro cites the lot as one of the region’s most crowded.

However, no matter how crowded the parking lot, having residents or jobs directly adjacent to the station brings more riders to Metro and a better use of the scarce land. Plus, the parking lot is crowded because it’s underpriced.

More crowded parking lots should have higher prices to encourage drivers to use alternate means of access like cycling, walking, or bus, or to choose another, less crowded lot. The additional revenue could be devoted to improving sidewalks and trails locally, increase the amount of parking for bicycles, or to improve feeder bus service.

During the last budget season, Metro parking fees were held constant. The representatives of the outer counties (Fairfax and Montgomery, primarily) opposed any change to parking fees, stating that long-distance riders had already seen large fare increases.

But charging more for parking at already full lots is a good way for Metro to gain revenue without losing riders. Lots that fill up at 7:30 am either need more spaces, as VDOT might suggest, or they need to have higher prices, as I have recommended before.

At East Falls Church, the local government preference and the preference of many residents is to retain or reduce the number of parking spaces, using the land near the station for retail or residential purposes, not storing cars. The high parking demand just reflects a price that is being held too low.

In 2009, Metro hired a contractor to conduct a real-time parking occupancy study of the Vienna, Van Dorn, West Falls Church, and Franconia stations. All stations reach 100% capacity during the day, with Van Dorn Street station reaching 93% capacity of unrestricted spaces by 7 am. For Van Dorn Street, the peak of entering traffic is around 6:30 am, well before the system is at peak capacity and well before Metro can charge “peak of the peak” fares. By increasing the price of parking, Metro can retain some spaces until later in the morning, when customers are willing to pay the higher peak surcharge rates.

While this seems like gouging, underpricing of a scarce resource like parking can actually make traffic worse. If Metro lots fill up by 7 am, when traffic is relatively light, that takes spaces away from people that might want to take transit during the heaviest traffic periods from 7:30 to 8:30 am. By pricing the spaces so they don’t fill up, people can choose to take Metro regardless of when they would like to travel, reducing traffic when it’s at its peak.

VDOT cites the early time East Falls Church parking fills up as evidence that the parking spaces should be retained or even expanded. I say it’s more evidence that Metro should revisit the way the parking rates are set.